For immediate release
December 11, 2008WETHERSFIELD, Connecticut’s minimum wage
will increase to $8.00 per hour as of January 1, 2009, State Labor Commissioner
Patricia H. Mayfield reminds all state residents. The current minimum wage rate
is $7.65 an hour.

"This increase to $8.00 is the
first part of a two-year increase in the minimum wage,” Mayfield explains. “On
Jan. 1, 2010, Connecticut’s minimum wage will, in accordance with Public Act
08-92, increase to $8.25.”

Although the
federal minimum wage is currently $6.55, Gary K. Pechie, Director of the
agency’s Division of Wage and Workplace Standards, emphasizes that all
Connecticut businesses must pay the state’s minimum wage.

Under
section 31-60 of the Connecticut General Statutes and Public Act 08-113, the
Connecticut minimum wage rates for service employees, specifically, restaurant
waitpersons or bartenders, are determined by using a formula that takes tip
deductions into account. These rates can be found on the Connecticut Department
of Labor’s Web site at
www.ct.gov/dol or by contacting the Labor
Department’s Division of Wage and Workplace Standards Division at
(860) 263-6790.